That Little Bit
by johnnysbrasiliansexmistress2
Summary: We all know that Taylor can cause problems. But who ever thought that her annoying fishing in everyone's business could actually help? Mainly JacksonMelissa, but also lots of NathanDaley. CHAPTER 4 IS UP! Read and REVIEW! Complete.
1. Let the Mind Games Begin

That Little Bit—

Disclaimer: I don't own Flight 29 Down or any of its characters, just this particular story.

A/N: First, I would like to explain the title. It can go two ways, whichever you would like to interpret it. The first that _I_ thought of had to do with Taylor: note that the word "Bit" is just two letters short of "Bitch." I may explain it more situationally later in the story. The second interpretation could be that these couples are so close; they're just being given a little push into the relationships. Anyway, hope you like this story, and leave reviews because that's the only way more will come! Rated M for later sequences, although probably not much language.

A/N #2: Sorry for the first long author's note! This story takes place within the episode titled "He Said She Said He Said." By the way, check out my other stories at my pen name Luvbunny114.

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Daley sat with her legs under her, reforming the circle of rocks they had used as a fire pit for the past few days. Just as she had finished placing the last stone, a rustling emitted from the trees and Nathan was reaching over her shoulder, dropping a load of heavy branches and sending rocks rolling out of place in all different directions, some rolling under the nearby brush. Daley huffed and rolled her eyes, turning to Nathan accusingly.

"Sorry," Nathan said, backing away slowly and shrugging his shoulders apologetically. Daley let out a breath and stood up.

"It's okay," she replied, swiping at her shins to remove the grass and pebbles that had left indentations in her skin. "Just be more careful next time?" She wasn't mad at Nathan. The two had reached some sort of friendship or agreement or something after the initial distress over the leadership issue, and it wouldn't be broken over firewood and a couple of stones. Daley turned and dug through the brush for a rock she had seen roll through, and she heard Nathan doing the same across the clearing. When they had gathered the missing stones and Nathan had helped her replace them in their spots, he said, "Bye," and left, apparently to find Jackson or Melissa to help him with something. When the sound of his crunching footsteps dissipated into the forest, Daley stopped pretending to move the stones around, as if each millimeter of movement was just barely out of place, and sat on the largest, sturdiest rock and set her chin on her palm pensively. She heard a twig snapping to her right and dropped to her knees, lest Nathan come back to find her sitting there daydreaming like some ignorant teenage girl. Like Taylor would, were she in the same situation.

And speaking of the devil…

"So, Daley," came Taylor's voice before the rest of her, stumbling out of the woods and regaining her composure, which today read _I'm not as clueless as usual today, and it has to do with you_, "couldn't help but notice you and Nathan."

"Wow, nothing gets past you," Daley replied, getting back to her feet and again wiping her shins off. She sat again on one of the larger stones and said, "Hey, if you walk a little while further you might be able to find Nathan again, only this time he'll be with Jackson and Melissa. Jackson: tall, kinda spiky brown hair in the front, usually wearing a tee-shirt and khakis. Melissa: a bit shorter than Jackson, pretty quiet, dark hair." During this whole sarcastic monologue, Taylor looked at Daley as if she were some poor, naïve child who was completely unaware of something right under her nose.

"You must have _some_ idea of what I'm talking about!" Taylor said suggestively. When Daley continued to stare at her with a _What's your point?_ expression, Taylor was prompted to sneak in a bit closer and say, in a way that made her point painfully obvious, "_You and Nathan._"

Daley rolled her eyes and attempted a snort at the suggestion, but Taylor didn't seem to want to let go of the notion that there could be something going on.

"Seriously, Taylor, what would make you think that _I_ like _Nathan_? I mean, sure, we get along now. But that's just because none of us will be able to survive if we can't get along with each other. We're being mature. Being mature doesn't mean that we're in love or something."

"Well, I don't know about him, but I definitely saw something coming from you a few minutes ago, if you know what I mean."

_I can't believe this_, Daley thought. _How can _Taylor_ tell what I'm thinking when I'm talking to Nathan… and why does she not know how he felt?_

Despite her desperate need to keep to herself, Daley had the sinking feeling that Taylor had finally figured her out, at least, in this particular situation. But, for once, she had to agree completely with Jackson: having relationships on the island would be pointless and even reckless. One breakup or even just a progressive relationship between any two people could cause problems. However, she didn't want Taylor to see all of these thoughts running circles through her mind behind the veil of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I can't say I do," Daley said with a crooked, self-assured smirk. True, this attitude was a complete bluff, but if it could just make Taylor _go away_, it would be worth it.

"Oh-kay," Taylor said, her voice dragging annoyingly, hints of disbelief trailing behind her as she turned slowly back toward the smatter of trees hiding the clearing from the beach. "But take it from someone who dated Nathan: he doesn't like to be kept waiting. Whatever it is that he wants, if he has to wait too long, he won't want it anymore." With that striking note, Taylor turned her attention fully away from Daley and headed carefully back through the trees.

Daley's eyes trailed after her for a moment, mulling over her last words. While she didn't want Nathan to lose any interest in her that he currently had with news of waiting for rescue, she wasn't about to act like some lovesick sixth grader, parading around with him as soon as humanly possible. It couldn't happen; she and Taylor both new it, no matter how much Taylor tried to provoke her. It would just make life more complicated than it already was, and, since everyone had just begun to enjoy the comforts of some sort of order and system, she highly doubted that they would make way for her to screw it up.

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As Taylor went back down to the beach, she spotted Melissa by the water washing some clothing in a basin. Taylor grinned slightly and strutted (if it was possibly for her to strut in the sand) toward Melissa. She didn't look up, and Taylor cleared her throat a bit before chiming, "Hey Me-el."

Melissa looked up and brought her hand to her forehead to shade her eyes from the sun. "Oh, hey, Taylor," she replied with a smile. "I was just washing some clothes. Wanna help?"

Taylor looked as though the suggestion were one she wouldn't consider in a million years, but she simply said, "Thank, but I'm here on business."

Melissa dropped the shirt she had been scrubbing over the side of the basin and shook her hands off, water droplets sinking into the surrounding sand. "Business?" she asked cautiously.

"Yeah. What's going on with you and Jackson?"

Melissa rolled her eyes and sat back on her heels.

"You're a little late there," she said with an inward sigh.

"Oh… wait, what happened?"

"Jackson and I agreed that it would be best to wait until we get off this island to see each other," Melissa explained, a twinge of delight evident as she revealed the information.

Taylor looked confused, and in her head Melissa thought, _Okay, she's not _that_ slow!_

"What?" she asked pointedly.

"Well, no offense or anything, but doesn't he, like, have a _life_ at home? I mean, why should he hold onto stuff that happened on this stupid island?"

And for once, Taylor had a point. Melissa knew that Jackson was an unpredictable person and she was just so… _predictable_. How long could he stay interested in someone like her when he was so different?

And also, he had said that when they were rescued he would call her. But what did that _mean?_ When she got home she would probably call Nathan and Daley a few times, but it didn't mean that she wanted to date them! Calling someone wasn't a binding contract to date them. Oh no, she had gotten a completely wrong impression of Jackson, and she needed it straightened out right away.

Daley's red hair and braids pulled Melissa out of her panic and she tried to smile. Failing miserably, looking something between a squint and a grimace, she looked back to the basin and busied her hands washing again.

"Hey, Melissa," Daley said, hardly looking at her as she headed straight toward Taylor.

"Hi, Daley," Taylor said to her with a devilish, I-know-why-you're-here grin.

"Taylor, I need—"

"Daley!" came Nathan's voice from the trees, and soon he was heading in Daley's direction. "Daley, we need to talk," he said seriously, looking as though he were about to corner her and force her to listen to him.

"Oh, Nathan, I really need to talk to Taylor right now."

"Really?" Taylor interjected faux-innocently. "What about?"

Daley whipped her head around, looking over the water, hoping for some sort of a diversion. She wasn't ready to talk to Nathan just yet. When nothing came she looked desperately back toward the three of them, Melissa still on the ground scrubbing the life from a formerly bright green shirt.

"Hey, guys, come check it out!" Lex ran across the beach with a full smile that he hadn't worn since he had been assigned to build the new shelter. "Come look!" Taylor and Melissa made a beeline back to the camp and away from the awkward state of conversation.

"I'll be there in a minute, Lex," Nathan said, turning toward the open water where the sun was beginning to set. Lex was going to show them that he had finally figured out how to build the new shelter, which they had all known he would do anyway. It wasn't shocking news, and Nathan could afford to take a few minutes before congratulating him.

Lex looked understandingly toward Nathan before turning to his sister. "Day?"

Daley looked back at Nathan, who was still looking out over the water, then at Lex. "Okay, let's go," she said, steering him around by the shoulder and leaving Nathan alone.

When he heard them leaving, Nathan sat carefully in the sand, his hands sinking in as he set them behind him, leaning back and letting his hair fly back off his forehead.

What should he do now? He wasn't mad at Melissa; she had tried hard to keep his secret. But Taylor and Eric circulating rumors, Daley pressing, and – for Melissa, probably most of all – Jackson's insecure questioning had gotten to her.

But it wasn't as though Daley had given some sort of sign about what she was feeling when Melissa said it. So he couldn't be sure how to react, because he didn't know what action he was reacting to. Should he just screw the odds and ask her out (whatever _that_ meant here)? Or should he just try to forget about the whole thing and act like nothing had ever happened? He had to see what Daley wanted to do before he made his decision.

With a gnawing feeling in his stomach, Nathan lifted himself from the ground and turned to the camp. He could see the group in the distance standing around a wooden structure, with Lex in the middle making something at the top of the structure spin. He walked up to them and stood, half-listening to Lex's explanation of the roof he had constructed. The only thing that he observed, besides Daley, was the strangely analytical stare that Melissa was directing toward Jackson. Nathan wrote it off as some weird, secret crush thing and continued focusing his attention on Daley. They finally finished congratulating Lex and Nathan turned toward Daley. She knew what he wanted.

"We gotta talk," Nathan said firmly.

"Yeah," Daley agreed and they both turned to the woods.

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A/N: Sorry to all of you who were hunting for something more M-rated, but I'm trying to build the story a bit. I've also been working to finish this in less than a week to try to accommodate the happenings in the series… I'm not sure if that'll work and I'll still be able to put in the stuff I want, but I'll address that when I get to it. Please read and review!


	2. No! Well, Maybe

Chapter Title: _No. Well, Maybe_

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it. I do not own Nathan, Daley, Taylor, Eric, Melissa, Jackson, Lex, Abby, "Pilot Person," and anyone else you can think of being named on _Flight 29 Down_. But I'm working on buying the show (kidding).

A/N: Hope you liked the last chapter! Sorry if it was a bit confusing. I was trying to fill in the gaps from the episode "He Said, She Said, He Said." I'm still trying my hardest to roll with the punches… Yeah that's getting hard. I think I'm just going to full-out deviate now. Anyway, enjoy!

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As Nathan and Daley pulled away from the group and into the woods, Melissa's tension propelled her toward Jackson. He looked at her casually, then noticed a purpose in her eyes and expelled a deflating sigh.

"What's up?" he asked, not skirting the upcoming conversation.

"We need to talk, too," Melissa replied, treading into the woods in the direction opposite Nathan and Daley. Jackson followed tiredly while Lex stood, perplexed, under the roof of his new shelter, Eric walked away uninterestedly, and Taylor watched both couples trudging off with a look of a lion hunting gazelle on her face.

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For the first time in a long while, Daley wasn't dominating the conversation. Neither Daley nor Nathan had spoken a word shy of "Watch that branch," or "Don't step there" the whole way through the woods until they were far enough from camp to talk privately. Nathan felt it appropriate for him to start.

"Daley, I'm really sorry about this…"

"Sorry for what?" she inquired, already catching him off guard.

"For getting you into this whole mess," he said, regaining his footing.

Daley made an effort to chuckle good-naturedly, and she wasn't sure it had worked judging by the way Nathan's brow furrowed a bit. "These kinds of things are bound to happen sometime or another. We need to just continue as though they haven't. Get them out of our systems and move on."

Nathan stood rooted for a moment. He felt like a kindergartener complaining about a cold. Was this really that minor a thing to her?

"Get them… get them out of our systems," he stuttered. "Yeah, okay." He was truly disappointed; he didn't think Daley would be so impenetrably dedicated to the government of the island. He supposed this would be a good thing for them in the long run. He turned away from her, expecting her to stop him. However, she just let out a strangled sigh and turned away as well, struggling through some trees before she reached the campsite again. She was greeted by Eric whining about lugging water and Taylor telling Lex that he needed to move faster with the shelter.

"Listen, kid," she was squawking, "I am not sharing any more of my time in that gross little… _cage_! Make me a house _now!_" Lex winced and bent his head back down to look at his notes and schematics. Daley walked up behind him and put a reassuring and defensive hand on his shoulder.

"Taylor, unless you want to start lugging logs and rope around, I think you should stop giving Lex a hard time."

"Whatever," Taylor conceded, sitting on a cooler and putting a finger to her hair, pulling a lock in front of her face and examining the ends. Her nose scrunched distastefully as she pulled at each of the hairs and tested them. Daley rubbed Lex's shoulder once and walked away, heading toward the beach in hopes of hiding among the remains of the plane for a while so that she could think.

Meanwhile, Nathan had escaped back to the beach once again, this time finding Melissa already sitting in the sand, staring somewhere between the shoreline and the sparkling evening water. Without a word, he sat down beside her and looked down at his hand, thinking for a moment what he wanted to say to her. She beat him to it.

"Nathan, am I predictable?"

"Predictable?" he asked unsurely, turning toward her. She still wasn't looking in his direction, and he looked away from her again, considering her question.

"Yeah. Am I… boring?"

"Of course not, Mel," he answered, a smile in his voice. "Why would you think that?"

"Nothing," Melissa responded, evading his question by looking directly at him. "How'd it go with Daley?"

"Oh, Daley." He rubbed his knee with his thumb for a moment before turning toward Melissa. "She… she took it really well." Melissa could see how disappointed he was, but she couldn't think of anything to do for him. Whatever Daley had prescribed they do, that was probably the best overall course of action. She put her hand to his shoulder and laid her head on it, watching the rise and fall of his chest. He reached his hand up and pulled a strand of her hair loose, teasing it around his finger as he sat, thinking. "Hey, what were you talking to Jackson about?"

"Nothing," Melissa said, not even lifting her head. "Lex called him back to do something before I got a word in."

"That sucks. What did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing, really. Just something Taylor said."

Nathan was surprised to see that her face was still completely serious. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him in a hug.

"Whatever she told you, don't believe it. You know Taylor. She wants to drive everyone around her insane."

"Yeah, I know," Melissa agreed, standing slowly and extending her hand to Nathan. He took it and smiled at her when she had helped him up. She returned the gesture, but couldn't make herself believe that Taylor was wrong.

As the whole scene played out in front of her, Taylor watched from the thick bushes, licking her lips in the presence of such a juicy new development.

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Nathan had already gone off to help Lex measure logs and do other shelter-related jobs by the time Melissa reached the camp. It seemed that everyone else was taking a break or setting up dinner: Daley was sitting on a log, stoking a new fire for food; Eric was sitting on the cooler spinning his hat on his finger; and Jackson was sitting against a tree at the edge of the woods, scratching something into the dirt with his pocketknife.

"Jackson," Melissa said authoritatively, striding toward him, "I really need to talk to you. If anyone asks," Melissa directed to Daley, "tell them we'll be back soon."

"Sure." Daley smiled up at them and went back to the fire.

Melissa stomped over the damp leaves and stumbled over a few stray sticks on her way into the woods. It was getting dark and she was having trouble seeing through the trees. She could hear Jackson behind her, maneuvering skillfully through the brush. She couldn't decide which part of the jumbled mess in her head she wanted to address to him now.

"How far are we going?" Jackson asked tiredly from behind.

"Fine." She stopped walking and he bumped drunkenly into her, caught off guard. He regained balance and looked at her, not hiding his eagerness to get whatever issue she had on her mind over with.

"Okay, so what's this all about," he asked flatly. He stared at her, noticing that she didn't seem intent on looking directly at his face. Instead she paced around in a small circle, leaves crunching and compressing under her boots.

"It's about…" Melissa didn't want to sound stupid by telling him that this whole panic was a manifest of something Taylor had said. "It's about something that someone said to me about you."

"Who?" Jackson asked immediately, catching onto her avoidance of naming the person.

She was defeated. "Taylor," she admitted.

Jackson rolled his eyes and turned away from her, walking a few inches further away. "And what did she say about me? And how can it possibly be worse than what Eric already showed you guys on my tape? It must be worse, because _that_ didn't phase you, but right now you're acting like I'm some completely different person."

"Well that's what she said! That's exactly what she told me. And I think she was right."

"What are you talking about?"

"She started talking about how different we are here than we are at home."

"So you mean she's less annoying at home?" Jackson asked with the last trace of jest he possessed. Melissa didn't laugh or smile.

"She said that you would be different."

"Who am I changing for, the idiots in that foster home they stuck me in?" he asked impatiently, annoyance rising in his voice and expression.

"Who knows? For them, for the people in school—"

"Oh yeah, I'm changing myself for _them_. You think I'm going to become someone completely different when we get home because I want them to think I'm some reclusive drug addict? Because right now I'm pretty sure that's how my rep's going."

"Well at home who were you? You weren't who you are here. You weren't someone who led a whole group of people through serious survival. You weren't someone who a whole group of people depended on for help and _friendship_. You were some guy who hung out with a bunch of tough guys and wanted to fit in somewhere."

Jackson looked slightly surprised at her analysis. He couldn't even register whether she was correct or not. He could only focus on the outstanding disdain she had used when describing his life at home.

"That's who you think I am?" he asked her carefully. She didn't sense the breakdown behind his voice.

"That's who you were. And I think I might agree with Taylor when she says that that's who you'll be when we get back. And if that's who you are when we're rescued, then who says that you'll even want me anymore? You haven't even said that you actually like me. So was that just me getting my hopes up? Was I stupid to think that you might like me enough to date me?"

He was speechless. He didn't even see where she had derived this whole theory. It hadn't occurred to him.

She took his speechlessness for consent and let out a disbelieving sound. "See? She was right. I can't believe it, but Taylor was actually right."

"Taylor has a lot of problems," he interjected weakly, trying to rise to his own and Taylor's defense. "But haven't we spent enough time together to know that she says a lot of things that aren't entirely true? In fact, what she says is usually not true at all. And since when have you two been such good buddies that you're taking advice from her?"

"We're not. But Taylor has told us valuable things before. Like all that fishing advice? She may be annoying and she might say a lot of stupid things, but sometimes she knows what she's talking about! You were a different person when we were at school, and how are you going to react when we eventually get back? You're telling me you're going to be all different just because that's how you were here? You said that your friends from the last town you were in were mad because they thought you had changed just because you were doing something with your life. If they see you completely changed like you say you'll be, how do you think they'll react? You say you're going to be the same person when we get back as you are now, right?"

"How do you know I won't change?" Jackson asked, but he had already heard the explanation, and he was amazingly unnerved at how right she was. It was beginning to scare him, and he felt his chest constricting, even as he asked her the question.

"Jackson, I know you won't. You can't! You're going to turn back into that tough guy who's too cool for the bored rich kids. And I don't think I fit into the life of a person with that persona. And you know that." She turned away from him in the direction of camp and began stomping through the woods, breaking into a run when she was halfway there.

When she reached the camp she was completely out of breath and everyone was still working on their individual projects. Nathan had returned and was trying to erect a part of the housing structure for Lex. When he saw Melissa coming through, he made sure the pieces would stay in place and then advanced toward her. Her face was getting red in the effort to keep herself from crying.

"Mel?" he asked, noticing the awkwardness of her expression. "What's wrong?"

She walked the rest of the way to him and put her face to his shoulder, letting tears fall and drench his shirt and beginning to gasp and sob. He quickly wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her to him, letting her continue to cry into his shoulder while he stroked her hair and back, trying to calm her.

From the tent where Taylor was watching amusedly she signaled for Daley to come closer to her. Daley glanced back at Melissa and Nathan before scooting off the log she was on and walking quietly toward Taylor.

"What?" she hissed.

"Just look at them," Taylor whispered, nodding toward Nathan and Melissa.

"Thanks for pointing it out to me," Daley whispered sarcastically. "I wonder what happened with her and Jackson."

"I know what happened," Taylor replied with the air of someone about to reveal a juicy secret. Daley was growing steadily tired of Taylor's stupid couple theories.

"Okay, what happened?"

"Well," Taylor said with excess emphasis, "Melissa wanted to tell him that she's not interested in him any more and that she wants to be with Nathan. And let's just say Jackson didn't take it so well. I told you Nathan wouldn't want to wait. He wants her now, and Jackson doesn't like it."

"That's stupid, Taylor."

"Is it really? I mean, you didn't want to let Nathan see your feelings about him, and now he's all touchy-feely with Melissa? Something's going on."

She had a point. She seemed to be racking those up lately. Daley took another look at Melissa and Nathan, who were still locked in a hugging embrace. Nathan was still carefully stroking Melissa's hair and making soothing shushing sounds in her ear. Daley realized that she would have given anything to be Melissa at that moment.

"I think you're wrong," Daley said so unconvincingly that she didn't even think Taylor would believe her.

"Whatever you say," Taylor smirked. Daley went back to the fire and pretended that she was working again, when in reality she was trying to listen to Nathan and Melissa, trying to determine whether they were really getting romantically involved or if it was just Taylor trying to upset her.

When they finally heard Jackson coming toward them through the brush he looked terrible. His face and hands were pale and his cheeks were slightly pink, like he might have been rubbing his eyes. When he saw Nathan hugging Melissa he turned away and tried to continue through the camp without meeting anyone's gaze.

"Hey, chief, what happened?" Eric asked pointedly, gesturing toward Melissa. Jackson didn't acknowledge him and just continued walking until he had reached the beach. He laid flat on his back in the sand and stared up at the darkened sky, his head buzzing but no complete thoughts entering his mind.

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Daley continued staring at the two of them until finally Melissa's short-breathed sobs came to a shaky end. She lifted herself from Nathan's now completely drenched shoulder and looked at him with an apologetic smile. Daley's chest began to burn and her heartbeat quickened as he raised his hands to the sides of her face, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. She thanked him and told him she would explain more later, then left to try to calm herself and rationalize in the nearby woods. A little after she left Nathan went back to working on the assignment Lex had given him, but not before taking his shirt off. Daley gaped.

"Nathan!" she squeaked before she could stop herself. It was difficult for any of them to tell if she was impressed or reprimanding. Either way he looked at her questioningly.

"I can't exactly work in a shirt with a soaked arm," he explained. She nodded but continued to stare at him. He pretended not to notice for a minute, but turned back around to see that she was still unconsciously gaping at him. He let out a sigh and put down his work. She finally realized what she was doing and looked back down to the fire. Taylor snickered from the side. He went over to the tent and reached in for a new shirt, pulling it over his head.

"Come here," Nathan said quietly, putting his hand around Daley's upper arm and gently pulling her from her seat. She let him lead her to the edge of the woods before asking, "What?"

"What's going on with you? You've been kind of weird lately. Is it my fault? Because I'm really sorry about that and I thought we were just going to forget about it."

Ouch. So he really was forgetting about her. She had lost before she had really even started. But, even though she had _said_ she didn't want a relationship with him now, she hadn't meant it. She'd thought that he would understand that. Apparently not. But she couldn't let him just move on and go for Melissa instead, because no matter how hard she tried, she knew she couldn't just stop loving Nathan. Which was what prompted her next move.

She took a step closer to him, although she was now apparently too close, because she had closed her eyes before taking a step and hadn't realized how close she already was to his face. She kissed him with the force to knock him backward and he had to take two steps back in order to prevent himself from falling, but he didn't break contact with Daley.

She stood there for a minute, wondering if she had initiated the kiss correctly; if she was doing it right now; if he was enjoying it; if he was starting to like her again; and, more importantly, if he was forgetting about Melissa. She loosened her lips from their tense and rehearsed kissing position and pulled nervously away from Nathan, looking over the planes of his face for a reaction.

Nathan's face was hot. He could feel moisture accumulating at his hairline and his hands were shaky. "What was that for?" he asked, not even caring about her answer.

"Taylor told me about how you didn't want to keep waiting for me and you won't wait for people to change their minds about you." She was losing all inhibition, shocking Nathan by the word.

"Is that really what you think I'm like?" Nathan asked.

"Well, I didn't until Taylor said it."

"And what does Taylor know? We dated for, like, a week. And I only even liked her because I thought she liked football."

"And she also told me that you like Melissa," Daley continued, feeling increasingly stupid as she quoted Taylor's facts, all of which now sounded amazingly idiotic.

"Didn't you just see Melissa talking to Jackson? What did you think they were talking about? Mel wants to have a relationship with him and she's afraid Jackson will be different when we get home. I don't have much to do with it."

"Oh," Daley said, and that was it. She felt the called-for blush creeping up her cheeks and burning her face, realizing that she had been practically hyperventilating over absolutely nothing. And she had just kissed Nathan (probably very poorly) when she didn't even need to. Taylor had been just playing one of her stupid jokes. "That little bit—"

Nathan kissed Daley before she could finish her scathing thought, and suddenly all of the anger left her. She shut her eyes and exhaled deeply as Nathan brought his hands to her hips, carefully stroking her sides with his thumbs. The soothing motion relaxed her into him and she suddenly couldn't think of a single reason to be mad at Taylor or Melissa or anyone. She kissed him back, opening her mouth a little as she had seen in some movies. It actually didn't feel as disgusting as she had thought it was when she watched it, and she could tell that he was enjoying it immensely when he pulled away.

"I don't think we should do this here," Nathan explained. "The rest of them are pretty close, and I don't really have any interest in Taylor and Eric making kissing noises at me for rest of the time here."

"Yeah, we should get back," Daley said, still slightly airy from the kissing. Nathan stroked his finger over her hip one last time before turning with her toward the camp and heading back.

"Where did you guys go?" Taylor squawked at them when they got back.

"We just had to talk something over, Taylor," Daley replied, her anger with Taylor over getting her worked up just barely reentering her mind. She sat back at the fire and picked up a stick, beginning to absently push around the ashes at the outer rim of the ring.

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A/N: Okay, there's chapter two. I am SO AMAZINGLY SORRY that it took so long. However, I was really trying to finish Chapter 3 before posting Chapter 2. Chapter 3 will be finished soon and hopefully I can post that soon, as well. Anyway, a little bit more intimacy at the end, and therefore I am now edging into the world of OOC. The next chapter is going to be the most in-depth as far as Rated-M goes, so hopefully I can finish that soon and post it. Anyway, please review this one! By the way, I did add the title in there like I said I might, so maybe it's a bit easier to understand it now.


	3. Fear is Loss

Chapter Title: _Fear is Loss._

Disclaimer: If I owned _Flight 29 Down_ by now, I'm pretty sure you would have heard about it. Unfortunately, it still hasn't happened. I'm seeing how much I have in my trust funds. Maybe I'll have enough to buy Corbin and Johnny.

A/N: Okay, so I _thought_ that Chapter 3 would be the last chapter, but then I decided to split it into two chapters rather than one 17-page one. If there are any inconsistencies in my Author's Notes, it's because of the little split-up I did. Anyway, enjoy!

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When Jackson finally returned to the camp, Melissa had been back for a half hour and was ladling vegetable soup from the pot over the fire. She turned to Nathan when she saw Jackson, hoping for some comfort, but all she got was the image of Nathan and Daley talking animatedly about some random bit of nothingness. She bit her lower lip and turned to the pot, scooping some vegetables into a bowl and handing it to Jackson, who had reached the fire pit.

"Hey," she greeted him shyly. She wasn't sure whether she should be proud for finally saying how she felt, or embarrassed for yelling at him the way she did. Had it even affected him at all?

"What's up?" he asked nonchalantly, taking a seat on a nearby log. _A resounding "no" to effect, then_, she thought. Melissa looked down into the murky liquid of her soup and stirred it idly with a plastic spoon.

"Nothing," she replied cautiously, hoping to God that he wasn't mad at her. She hadn't meant to seem angry or mean to him. She really was scared about all those things Taylor had said and that she had discussed with Jackson in the woods. "Um, listen. I'm really sorry for what I said before…"

"It's okay, it doesn't matter," he replied without blinking. He took a sip of the soup while Melissa continued to stare at him, mouth slightly open in awe at his complete passiveness.

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From over Daley's shoulder, Nathan could spot Melissa and Jackson talking to each other. He could read the discomfort in Melissa's face and posture, but he couldn't tell what was happening. Jackson had said something that surprised her.

"What's going on?" Daley asked him quietly, nodding very slightly toward Melissa and Jackson. Nathan appreciated the discretion she took while talking about them. He shrugged silently and continued staring over her shoulder, trying to fine-tune his hearing so that he could understand what was making Mel so uncomfortable.

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Melissa felt herself getting frustrated with Jackson. It wasn't even that he was being _normal_. He was being so aggravatingly passive that she wondered if he had even cared about what she had said to him and taken it into consideration. But right now she might as well be talking to a tree for all the substance this conversation was turning out to be. She turned away from Jackson and got up, ready to join Nathan and Daley in their conversation. Whatever they were talking about had to be better than this.

"What's wrong?" Jackson asked as she turned away from him.

Melissa now felt an incredulous look inhabiting her features.

" 'What's _wrong_?' How can you just sit here and act like there are no problems and everything's perfect? I was worried that you would be mad, but this is worse because it's making me _hate_ you." _Did I really just say that?_ She didn't think she really hated Jackson, but that was all that had come out before she went to sit in the tent, not bothering to go back for her soup. Everyone stared at the tent in shock. Except for Taylor, who was too busy studying the look of shocked desperation on Jackson's face as he sat on the log, not knowing what else to do with himself, and taking another spoonful of soup, although he looked as though he had no intention of drinking it any time soon. She couldn't tell whether to grin or let sanity prevail and be concerned.

"Melissa, what is going _on_ with you two?" Daley asked when she entered the tent a few minutes after Melissa's storm-off.

"Jackson's being annoying," Melissa replied tersely.

"I think Jackson's just being Jackson," Daley said, sitting on her sleeping bag and looking to Melissa. "Mel, when has Jackson ever been able to express himself to us normally? The only way we have ever found out anything about him was by accident. You can't expect him to react properly when you pinpoint one of his problems."

"Yeah, but he's just being so…" Civil? Calm? Wow… terrible, civility and calmness. Melissa couldn't quite handle Daley's rationality, so she turned away and started out of the tent.

"Melissa," Daley called her, hoping to send one piece of advice that she could actually use before she stormed off yet again. "Don't let him bother you. You saw what I did with Nathan. I just kind of brushed him off, but everything worked out."

"Yeah, but you didn't _want_ to brush Nathan off. What happened between you guys was kind of an accident."

"Well, it was a good accident!" Daley replied humorously, glad that she had finally gotten Melissa to lower her sword. "It worked, right? Just take Jackson's attitude in stride and maybe it'll work out like it did between me and Nathan."

"That sounds like a fair plan," Melissa conceded, sitting back on her sleeping bag and facing Daley. "So what _did_ happen with you guys? I came back here after the whole freak-out thing and found Nathan on Cloud 9."

"Oh," Daley blushed a bit, but not so that Melissa could see it. She had learned that, if she wanted to be a strong leader, she couldn't show when she was embarrassed. "Well, I, uh, took matters into my own hands."

"Or lips," Melissa supplied with a grin. "Yeah, Nathan tells me his stuff. I just wanted to see if you would."

"Oh, so you're testing me now?" Daley laughed, standing up and extending her hand to help Melissa up. "Then I guess we've gotten bored enough to go back to the real world."

"Thanks, Day," Melissa said quietly. Daley turned her head and smiled at her, then led her out of the tent.

At this point everyone had gone back to eating his or her dinner or, in Jackson's case, sharpening a knife on a rock. Melissa looked at him and took a discreet deep breath, expelling it slowly as she walked toward him. He was still sitting on the log where she had left him, and her soup was still on the ground beside it. She picked up the bowl and sat on the log, now so unsure of what to say that she remained completely silent. So did he.

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Nathan could hear something stirring in the tent as he slept, and he opened his eyes just wide enough to see who or what it was. He could now see Jackson trying not to wake anyone while he snuck out of the tent. A few seconds after he left, Nathan stood carefully from his own sleeping bag and followed suit, making sure not to step on Taylor or Eric as he proceeded out of the tent and into the fresh night air.

He followed Jackson down to the beach, where Nathan could now see him lying in the sand with his eyes closed. Nathan walked down toward the shoreline and stopped next to him, crouching beside him.

"Hey, man," Nathan said quietly.

Jackson's eyes opened and he stared up at the sky, annoyed that he had been disturbed so quickly.

"May I help you?" he asked tiredly. "No wait, let me guess. 'Hey, man, what's going on with you and Melissa?' " Nathan continued to look down at him, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well?" he asked, urging Jackson on.

"Well…" For a split second he considered telling Nathan his thoughts on Melissa's conversation with him, but he decided that Nathan really wasn't the one he needed to be talking to. He sat up and looked at Nathan. "It's nothing."

Nathan didn't believe a syllable that left his mouth, but knew that he couldn't force anything from Jackson.

Jackson looked back at the camp. "You should get back." Nathan looked back and nodded, rising slowly and massaging the backs of his aching knees. "Nathan," Jackson said, and Nathan turned back. "Thanks." He felt he owed Nathan that. He wasn't asking just to be annoying.

"No problem, man." Nathan nodded once and then turned and walked back to the camp. Jackson watched him duck quietly into the tent, then he lay on his back and sank into the cool, gritty sand, staring up at the intense, starry sky until his eyes ached and he fell asleep.

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When he woke up the next morning, Jackson was too lethargic to be disgusted by the messy, sandy state of his hair or the dampness in his clothes. He rose from the sand and noticed that the sun was only just coming up. He still had time to make himself look somewhere near decent by the time the others woke up. His main concern was that his night in the sand had achieved its purpose: he had had time to collect his thoughts and relax by himself.

He walked quietly through the camp and found the toiletries bag. After rummaging for a minute he extracted a shampoo bottle and a slightly worn down bar of soap. He grabbed a full bottle of water and a towel and quickly glanced into the tent. After assuring himself that everyone was asleep, he ventured into the woods. A few minutes in, in a particularly dense growth of trees, was the grassy spot where they had all done their showers lately.

Jackson slowly pulled off his damp shirt, muscles still aching with tiredness, and undressed the rest of himself until he was left in only his shoes. He picked up the shampoo bottle from the ground and squeezed some into his hand, rubbing it between his hands until the foam seeped through his fingers. He had become accustomed to taking showers with very little water, and he put his soapy hands up to his head without hesitation, letting them slip comfortably through his hair, now limp and soft with lack of gel. Jackson picked up the water bottle and stared for a long time, through the intense veil of night, morphing before his eyes into morning, toward the camp.

He could imagine Melissa in their single tent, her form still open with the careless emotion of sleep. As he let the water from the bottle spurt over his head and trickle onto his shoulders, he could only imagine Melissa's fingers and lips caressing him everywhere the water smoothly touched, making his muscles tighten as it slithered over his skin. He felt his chest slowly burn and constrict, his insides churning with desire at the thought of her touch on him, tenderly caring for each inch of exposed skin. He could feel himself almost painfully hardening at the thought of completely unadulterated passion, and he thought it was a good thing that he was far away from the group so that no one would witness his release. With one hand supporting him on the tree in front of him, Jackson sprayed the water once into his chest, and as it seeped down his abdomen, the soft tingle of the running water over his throbbing erection almost made him cry out. He bent over, fiercely biting his bottom lip as he silently came, his numb mind flashing Melissa's name like a white-hot brand beneath his eyelids.

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Melissa awoke to find everyone except for Jackson still sleeping in their sleeping bags around her. She quietly opened the flap-door to meet the sight of Jackson reentering the camp, looking both tired and energized. Strangely enough, she couldn't even remember hearing him leave. He had the toiletries kit with him, meaning that he had just taken a shower. She shivered at the thought, a warm shiver that tingled her insides.

"Hey, Jackson," she said quietly. He seemed preoccupied, putting shower supplies away by the cooler. She wasn't surprised when he didn't see her, but she wondered if he hadn't noticed her by chance or by choice.

She could hear a cautious rustling in the tent behind her, and suddenly Nathan was at her side. She looked forward, discreetly following Jackson with her stare. Nathan's arm rested over her shoulders, lightly squeezing her right forearm.

"Why is he closing off from me?" she asked, hurt crackling in her voice like electricity.

"I think," Nathan began, turning to look at Melissa, although she didn't turn to see him, "he's afraid of you."

Melissa looked at him with bewilderment. "He's _afraid_ of me?" she asked incredulously.

"Think about it, Mel. You really changed in front of him yesterday. You became this… aggressive, serious, anxious person, right in front of him. You also brought up some scary ideas. I think" —Nathan looked back at the tent, as if he was trying to see through the fabric toward someone— "he's afraid what might happen to him without you."

As the first gleams of sun began to peak over the shimmering ocean, Nathan removed himself from Melissa's contact and went over to the fire pit to get breakfast started.

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Despite the fact that Nathan had shown Melissa why Jackson was being so strange, she couldn't help but still feel a certain sense of agitation toward him. He was still acting as though life had simply moved on, and there was nothing else to it.

The day had been devoted to collecting more supplies from the woods for Lex's shelter. While they collected bark and twigs and all other sorts of constructional items, Lex was checking on his little vegetable patch, making adjustments as needed so the plants would live to be eaten. Well, if they were needed, which they all hoped fervently against.

Melissa and Daley were in a shallow area of the woods by the camp collecting bark for roofing when Jackson passed them, his hands full of logs and twigs that Lex had asked him to find. As he passed he gave a single nod to Melissa and Daley, walking by quickly.

"What's his deal?" Daley asked quietly, making sure that Jackson couldn't hear her.

"You know, I really don't know. I don't get how he can go on like this and act as though everything's fine and everything I said just glossed over like it doesn't matter." Melissa's voice was noticeably louder than Daley's had been, and Daley was sure that Jackson had heard Melissa when she heard footsteps crunching toward them in the leaves.

"What are you talking about?" Jackson said as he reappeared, wood still in his arms.

"How can you act like nothing happened? Why are you being like this?"

"You know what? Life _has_ gone on. The world's still going to turn, no matter how much you yell and scream at me, Melissa." He turned around and trudged back through the trees, leaving Melissa and Daley alone again in their spots. Daley turned, open-mouthed, registering Melissa's stony expression, a single furious tear running slick over her cheek and into the corner of her lips.

"Don't worry about it," Daley said quietly, but she knew there was probably nothing she could do to either comfort Melissa or make the situation between them any better, so she kept silent for the duration of the job. They both did.

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A/N: Please R&R, and keep reading!


	4. I'm Your First, You're My Last

Chapter Title: _I'm Your First, You're My Last._

Disclaimer: I don't own _Flight 29 Down_. I'm not wasting more space to say that.

A/N: Okay, so I think this is pretty much the end of the line as far as this story goes. I hope more than anything that anyone who has read this story has liked it and told me so. And if you've given me criticism, thanks for that, too. (By the way, that last review by drivemewild was actually probably meant more for this chapter.)

**Warning**: If you have been reading up until now with the mentality that this story didn't contain rated-M material, please use discretion while reading this chapter. This chapter contains explicit content, and I do not wish to be responsible for exposing this material to those who are unprepared for it.

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Melissa decided that she didn't want to work with Daley, being that she needed time to herself and that Daley would probably rather talk to Nathan than be brought down by Melissa's demeanor.

She roamed through the woods, sensing the depth of the wood around her and trying to remember the way back to camp from her position. She set her current handful of kindling on the ground and sat on a smooth rock, leaning her head back on a rough tree. Jackson's frustrated, desperate, irate expression was emblazoned in her mind, the way his lips agitatedly sneered as he told her off for thinking that life couldn't go on without putting things right. She didn't know that she would ever understand just what he had been thinking the past two days.

She stood up again and, leaving the wood she had already collected on the ground, she began to scour the circumference of the area, picking up twigs and leaves that looked as though they may be of use.

She noticed vaguely that this particular spot had almost no leaves on the ground, which was unusual for the area. The ground was soft with moisture and the trees seemed to still be blooming readily. As she bent to pick up the neglected twigs, she took her time and eventually stood in one spot, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, letting the warmth of the setting sun and the moisture from the ground splash over her, soaking into each pore and loosening each nervous knot in her shoulders and back.

There was the sound of a soft impression in the ground behind her, and she suddenly felt a warm, firm hand clutching her arm. She could feel who it was without turning around. Before she could yank from his grip, she felt his lips at her neck. Her mind halted without warning.

_What the…?_ She lowered her head and pulled away from him, spinning fiercely.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, regaining a partial sense of sanity. Jackson looked as though he hadn't the slightest hint of sanity left about him as his face turned toward hers, still mere inches from her body.

"I came to look for you. Melissa, please." The true desperation and pain in his voice was so real that Melissa could feel it radiating from his heart through his chest. Before she could say anything in response he had placed his hands over her hips, sighing a deep, uncompressed sigh as he kissed Melissa's lips with intense fervor. His hands slowly encircled her waist, pressing her to his chest so that she suddenly felt a completely alien sensation at her waist. Her aggression toward him was being forced out of her with the aggressive, passionate kisses she was now returning to him, feeling almost tearfully in ecstasy as she put her arms over his shoulders.

Jackson's right hand left her waist, a cold imprint over her side where the fingers had been, and brought it up to Melissa's neck, moving his lips rapidly to the side of her face and pressing kisses to the side of her neck and over her earlobe. She bent her head to the side and he smothered her skin in tender warmth, his hand moving to furiously pull the tie from her hair and entwine his fingers through the black strands.

"Jackson," Melissa hissed slowly, pulling herself from him and bringing her hands to lightly clutch his shoulders. She stopped him from kissing her neck and stared into his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I…" he brought his hand to his forehead and kept it over his eyes for a minute. She felt the stress and sadness mounting in his shoulders as he brought his gaze level with hers. "There's something I need to do, and it would mean everything if you trusted me." Melissa could almost feel his face burning with guilt and embarrassment. She was having trouble seeing him as the sun went down, but she could feel him standing perfectly still in front of her, nervous hands at her sides as he awaited her decision.

Suddenly she sensed the seriousness of his actions, his spontaneity. She knew she couldn't stay angry with him now. All of it had some sort of underlying meaning for him, one that she was apparently supposed to understand. Her heart thumped furiously against her ribcage as she realized with a hot wave of shock what she was about to do.

She leaned in to hug him and brought her lips to his ear. "More than anyone," she sighed, blowing an entirely renewed wave of passion through his body.

His lips swept over hers and his teeth clutched gently to the tender skin. His hands roamed independently over Melissa's body, tugging, for the first time since his mind had begun fantasizing about it, at the bottom of her shirt, reveling in the smooth, warm feeling of her skin. With little hesitation he brought both hands under the fabric and slid his fingers into the sides of her jeans, pressuring her hips and pressing his thumbs to her pelvic bone. She inhaled sharply, her lips still in full contact with his. He could taste a bit of something salty on her lips as his tongue forced entry to her mouth. She had clearly cried at some point that day.

His fingers had reached the first traces of her bra. She jumped as his finger slowly gained admission under the wire.

"Jackson," she whispered fervently, fear blatantly evident in her voice.

Jackson pulled himself off of her, feeling his face heat with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't do this—"

"No!" Melissa interjected reassuringly. "I just… I'm scared," she admitted quietly.

He fully removed his hands from her shirt and put one on her hip and the other on her arm, rubbing her goose-bumped skin. "I am, too," he said shakily. "I just need to do this. But I won't do it if you can't. I won't make you." She could tell that he fully intended to keep that promise. But the sad truth of the matter was that, no matter how scared she was or how mad she had been, she had a terrifying feeling that she needed this almost as much as he did.

"You won't have to," she said quietly, "I'm with you."

Jackson leaned toward her and kissed her gently as ever on the lips, sensing an extremely nervous tingle running through her.

With caution he put his hands, again, to the bottom of her shirt, this time requesting to pull it upward. Melissa nodded slightly, letting him pull it up and over her head. She barely had time to think of self-consciousness before he started kissing her again.

She felt his fingers slipping gently over the curves of her stomach and sides. She knew that she would be devastated if he suddenly rejected her because her body didn't feel right to him. However, he pushed that thought forcefully from her mind as he pulled her to him more tightly and she could feel the hardness through his jeans. He moved his hands to the back of her bra and fumbled with the clasp, his fingers hot and eager as he pulled the pieces apart and removed it from her body. Melissa could felt her skin suddenly prickling with goose bumps from the chilly air.

Her hair had grown long enough that, as Melissa began to lean forward, it slipped smoothly over her shoulders and spread ticklishly over her bare breasts. The nipples tightened as the wind teased the strands over them, and Jackson, hands still skillfully exploring her stomach and hips, leaned down to her chest and eagerly kissed the fine black hair, his lips caressing the tender nipple underneath.

Melissa felt her throat catching with ecstasy. She brought both hands to the back of his head and slipped her fingers through the short strands of hair, pulling him to her and inviting him more deeply inside of her.

His roaming fingers found their purpose and Melissa suddenly inhaled a sharp breath as she felt him feeling down the front of her jeans and under her underwear at her opening. They searched the wet strands and caressed the folds beneath them, making her jump and shudder excitedly. He could already tell that she was wet enough for him to do what he really needed. He brought his lips back to hers and kissed her feverishly as he nervously undid the front of her jeans. She moved to undo his as well, but he stopped her, despite his enormous discomfort.

"Wait," he whispered, "there's something else I need to do first." He stopped kissing her and she could see him well enough to tell that he was, again, embarrassed about what he was going to say or do. He pressed his lips together and cast his eyes down, then said quietly, "Someone told me once… that I have to do this first." She nodded slightly, knowing that he had her safety in mind.

He slowly pulled her jeans down by the belt loops, bringing the underwear down with them. His fingertips could feel the heat and passion radiating from her center, and he had to close his eyes and stop touching her for a moment to prevent coming right there. She put her hand on his chest and let the nails slip over his hot skin.

"M–Mel, stop," he stuttered, losing control and letting out a strangled groan as he held himself together.

"Do what you have to do," she said, bringing herself closer and lightly kissing his muscular left shoulder.

"It– it might hurt," he said worriedly. She kissed his neck deeply in response.

Slowly Jackson brought his right hand down to her wetness, carefully and curiously feeling through until he met the opening. He brought his other hand to her bare back and held her tightly to him before slowly forcing a finger through the wetness and inside her tight folds. She moaned a bit, but continued to kiss him lightly on the neck.

As he inserted the second finger he suddenly felt a great spasm of tension all over her. The muscles in her back tightened and loosened rapidly and she moved her head back to his shoulder, pressing her nose and lips into him. He could feel her nervously tightening around his fingers, and he could only hope on his life that he wasn't hurting her. His thumb found her throbbing clitoris and he stroked her, hoping to bring back some of the pleasure. Melissa turned her head into the crevice between his neck and shoulder and she slowly gained a rhythm, eventually pushing so forcefully against his fingers that he was afraid she might hurt herself.

He tried to calm her by stroking her back a bit, and he leaned down and made soft shushing noises into her ear, waiting for her to slow down. She came down enough for him to regain control, and he tried to insert a third finger. She made rapid "Mm-mm" noises into his neck, shaking her head and, again, nervously tightening. He stopped inserting the finger. Instead, he used the two fingers to try and make her opening more comfortable. It was getting harder for him to keep his senses, as she continued uncontrollably tightening and loosening on his fingers. He continued to caress her inside and out, and he heard her making slow, ecstatic moans, coming so suddenly and heavily over his fingers that he almost gasped.

She fell against him for a moment, Jackson's fingers still wet and warm inside of her. Before he could say a word, she was alert again, trying to undo his jeans.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked in a last attempt for her comfort, although Melissa could tell that he was now past the point of going back.

"We both need it," she whispered in response. Just as she had his zipper undone, he began moving down her body, kissing her neck and nuzzling between her breasts and over her stomach. She reached her hands over his shoulders and pressured his back until he resurfaced to kiss her deeply on the lips. She felt reckless and nervous at once as she reached down to slide his pants off, freeing his already throbbing erection.

He was suddenly extremely nervous, hoping that his fingers had done enough that she wouldn't hurt when she pushed him in. He cautiously slid the two fingers out, bringing his hand to the inside of her thigh and pulling her legs apart slightly. She reached down and slid her finger lightly over his shaft, grazing the tip and making his muscles tighten. He took her hand in his, making it a bit wet as he pulled it to a rest on his chest. She felt his heart beating at the speed of a racehorse, and she eagerly guided him toward her center. He quickly placed his other hand near the tender folds, rubbing the skin compulsively as he finally began to push into her. She was almost unbearably tight, and as he pushed in more he felt her body resisting him. She gasped and groaned as she fought with herself to stay open for him, and he brought his thumb and forefinger to her opening, trying to widen it and comfort her at the same time. He was almost choking on the effort not to come in her until she was ready for him.

She sighed heavily into his shoulder, finally finding the right position and relaxing. He suddenly found it much easier to move, and he slipped awkwardly inward until she pressed her hand to his chest, signaling for him to stop. With slight difficulty, she shifted her hips around him and, with a unified groan, he was fully inside of her. The moment he was inside, his mind began to reel and he could feel his control vanishing. With a last strangled groan, he pulled a clump of her hair into one hand, pressed his lips firmly to her forehead, and came forcefully inside her. With the little energy he had left, he pumped into her and crashed over her hips until she came with a soft cry. They supported each other, panting.

He carefully pulled out of her, thanking God that she hadn't bled, and slowly kneeled in front of her, again kissing various body parts along the way. When he was finally kneeling on the ground, he brought his hands to her hips, rubbing her sides with his thumbs, and he did something that surprised her: he kissed the area just below her stomach, pressing himself to her. The kisses weren't forceful or needy any more; they were kind and luxurious, less urgent than before. She calmly stroked his hair and made comforting shushing noises to him. He slowly moved so that he now had his forehead to her stomach, and she was startled to see his shoulders shaking. He was crying.

He had been so afraid to hurt her that now he was just relieved she was okay. She continued to shush him and caress his hair and cheeks until he stood back up and hugged her, sighing with relief and comfort as he kissed her ear and hair. She closed her eyes and squeezed his forearm lightly.

"It's okay, Jackson. It's over."

"I know," he whispered, his voice cracking emotionally as he finally let her go. He looked into her eyes, his blotchy, tear-streaked cheeks glowing. "You're beautiful," he said to her reverently. She smiled and rubbed her knuckles lightly over the side of his face.

"You have no idea how lucky I am." He smiled and kissed her palm.

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An hour later, Jackson and Melissa had gotten their clothes back on, but were too tired to walk all the way back to the camp. The night was warm, and the ground was soft enough for them to sleep on for the night, until they found their way back in the morning, hopefully before the others woke up and realized that they were still gone. Jackson had calmed down and recomposed himself, and was now gathering leaves for them to sleep on. He set them in a patch before a tree, sitting and leaning his back against the tree tiredly. Melissa came over and sat between his legs, leaning back and resting on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her to him. They had a moment of comfortable silence.

"Who am I?" he asked her quietly. She could hear that he was falling asleep, and she felt his chest moving up and down more slowly with each beat. She took his hand and held it in front of her, warming the cold fingertips.

"That's hard," she said in response. "I can't really tell you that."

"Who should know me better than you?" he asked with a hint of cheek.

She exhaled a laugh and brought his fingers to her lips, speaking into them quietly. "I can't tell you who you are. I could tell you _what_ you are, but who you are has to do with your opinion, not mine."

He groaned inwardly, and she felt him subtly pulling her more tightly to his body for security. "I'm not so happy with who I am right now."

Melissa turned her head to look at him. "You're not the person you were at home," she said, fully aware that this was part of what he needed to hear. She turned around and laid back on him, waiting for him to say something else.

"That's…" he pulled a lock of hair loose from her hair tie and twisted it through his fingers. "That's why I needed you. You know, tonight." She reveled in the tingly feeling of him gently playing with her hair, but she listened more intently to his confession.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly. She continued to stroke his fingers lightly as he played with her hair.

"You scared me, Melissa. When you said that stuff about me having to be a different person. I– I had to do something to prove to myself that I wouldn't be the way you said I would be. I had to prove that I wouldn't let myself lose you."

Melissa's chest burned with admiration for him and her throat tightened. She had to ask him:

"Were you a virgin before tonight?"

He shifted awkwardly beneath her.

"Sort of."

She laughed a bit. He remained silent. "How can you be 'sort of' a virgin?"

"It's… it's a weird story."

"Tell me," she said.

"It's going to sound bad."

"I know who you are. This won't change anything."

"When I was ten, I was in this foster home with a few other kids. There were twins, a boy and a girl, both younger than me by a year, and there was a girl, who was probably fifteen, sixteen years old. I think there was something wrong with her. She would come home some nights and be perfectly normal, and then other nights she would come home and the three of us would feel like hiding. Of course, we couldn't hide from her; she knew all the places in the house we liked to hide. When she came home mad, the foster mom would send her to her room. We all shared the same room, because there were only two bedrooms. It wasn't that we were too cramped in there, or anything. But the girl – her name was Maggie – told us that if we whined to the foster mom, she would hurt us. So we just stayed quiet, but when she came into our room angry, we couldn't all leave, because it would look suspicious to the foster mom.

"She never made any of us really have sex with her. She had enough boyfriends at school to fool around with, even though she told us she never really had sex with them. But sometimes she got so mad that she just wanted to do stuff to us. She said that she was feeling 'desires.' Apparently, that meant that she had to," he began to stutter, and his fingers started to clamp a bit around Melissa's. She flattened them gently between hers, knowing what he was going to say. She kissed his fingers and urged him on.

"She touched us, and I knew it was wrong. We all did, but we never said anything. Then one day, she came home really upset." His chest began to move faster, and she felt spurts of breath touching the back of her neck. She leaned the rest of the way back onto him, resting her head on his chest. He calmed again and entwined his fingers through her hair, exhaling deeply.

"She came home upset, and when she came into our room she said that her boyfriend wouldn't have sex with a virgin. Since I was the oldest and I had the biggest fingers, she told me that I would have to… make her… I had to help her. She was mad at herself for not being what her boyfriend wanted, so she made me go really hard. She made me use my fingers on her, and every time I tried to stop, she told me I wasn't done. She made me keep putting fingers in until she bled. She screamed, and I cried. It scared me that she would do that to herself. She told me that I was preparing her. I knew she was right, but she wasn't supposed to do it like that." His chest heaved again and his hand was getting sweaty. His fingers twitched a bit as she kissed them again.

"It's okay," she whispered.

He continued. "I didn't want to do that to you. I didn't want you to bleed and hurt like she did. I just wanted you to know how much I love you. I'm sorry." He stopped talking and closed his mouth tightly, catching his breath and holding tears in.

"Why won't you cry?" she asked him critically. She knew that he was trying not to, but she didn't understand why. She had only seen him cry once, and that had been just after they had sex.

"After that night, I told myself that I would never be that scared again. I wouldn't cry after that, because I needed to be strong, so that I wouldn't be vulnerable any more. I didn't let her touch me after that night. I started hiding from her, and from other people, too. The foster mom thought there was something wrong with me, and she gave me back to the social worker. I haven't really cried since then."

She turned around to look at him. She rubbed his arm and kissed him on the cheek. "You can cry now. I won't hurt you like she did. I promise." She turned back around and laid back on him. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and she felt something wet drop to her scalp. He wrapped his arms around her again and she stroked his right arm, closing her eyes and listening to him take deep breaths as more tears fell. She quietly shushed and comforted him until his chest stopped heaving, and he finally fell asleep. She fell asleep shortly after, whispering into his tightly wrapped arms, "It's okay now."

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Jackson woke up the next morning to find that Melissa had already woken. He was a bit sore from sleeping against a tree, but he felt amazingly rested. The sky was pink and red, and he could tell that it was early enough that they could find their way back to camp just before the others woke up. Melissa had already recollected the sticks and twigs that she had gathered the previous afternoon, which was a good idea. At least they could bring something back for the others. He stood up stiffly and she smiled at him.

"You slept quietly," she said. He walked over to her and hugged her again. She rubbed his back, and when he pulled away she put a slightly dirty hand to his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now." He put a hand in his pocket and the other gripped her upper arm. "I was just thinking about something last night. It was really bothering me, but I was afraid to ask you."

"Ask me now."

"Did I… did I hurt you last night?" His face and body had gone rigidly tense as he awaited her answer. She smiled and stroked his cheek.

"Last night was the best night of my life. You were so good to me that it hurt. It hurt my heart to see you so upset. You didn't let yourself do to me what you had to do to Maggie." He smiled, but he wouldn't let himself cry again. She kissed his lips and bent down to pick up the wood again. "Let's go back, shall we?"

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When they finally found their way back to the camp, only Nathan had woken up. He must have noticed that Melissa and Jackson were gone, because he was sitting tensely by the burnt out fire. He looked up the moment he heard their crunching footsteps and jumped up from the log. Melissa was expecting him to lecture her or something equally aggravating, but when he had reached her he pulled her into a strong hug.

"Nathan!" she said with a small laugh. He laughed back and let her go.

"Don't do that again, please," he said to her and Jackson at the same time. He gave Jackson a slight smile, and Jackson returned it before moving toward the fire to find food. Nathan gave Melissa a discreet look, asking her the question she had known he would ask. She nodded at him and his eyebrows rose, but he said nothing.

He didn't say anything later, either, when Daley, Taylor, Eric, and Lex woke up and came out of the tent. Taylor was the only one with the suspicion that Melissa and Jackson hadn't come back to the tent the night before, but no one else believed her. They ate in peace and began work, the same as any other day. Melissa silently gave Jackson comforting touches to his shoulder or back as they worked. He was still tense from the previous night's conversation, but she could tell that he was happy to have said it. She was glad that she was able to comfort him like no one else could. Nathan seemed to understand the connection going on between them, and he and Daley kept their distance during the day, both pairs letting the other have time alone.

"Guys!" Lex ran over to where everyone was working, looking flushed and excited. "Guess what!"

"You've discovered a civilization with TV and showers and toilet paper?" Taylor asked him sarcastically.

"You got the radio to work?" Nathan asked hopefully.

"Uh, no. But it's almost as good!" Eric rolled his eyes, as though nothing could be as good as TV and showers.

"What is it, Lex?" Daley asked hopefully.

"I think that we might be able to have the new shelter finished within another day or two, if we keep working like we are now."

The others smiled and Daley hugged Lex appreciatively. "Thank God!" Taylor said loudly. They laughed and went back to work, continuing to chop and build feverishly until the sun went down.

By the time the day was over, Melissa had discovered something: Jackson didn't trust himself at all. Of all the things she said or did to Jackson, the one thing that soothed his nerves was her promises that he wouldn't hurt her. It felt like a strange thing for her to say, but by the end of the day he was calmer than ever, smiling and enjoying himself with the others. No one, aside from Nathan, suspected that he had done anything exceptionally special in the last twenty-four hours, and he kept it that way.

That night, when they were all lying quietly in the tent, Melissa was almost asleep when she felt Jackson shift behind her. He was breathing too unsteadily to be asleep, and she turned to see his eyes open and looking at her. She shifted to face him and reached her hand out, putting it to the side of his face and running her thumb over his lips.

"Relax," she whispered, trying not to wake the others, who had probably been asleep for the past hour. Jackson quietly reached toward her legs and pulled her to him. She sighed and leaned toward him, kissing his forehead. Another thing she had noticed was his unusual obsession for touching her near her stomach. She figured that her center was a sacred place to him. His hand reached again to the spot he had kissed the night before, and she felt the pressure at her lower abdomen from his fingers.

"Hm," she hummed, stroking his chest soothingly. "Thank God for Taylor," she whispered pensively. His fingers kept rubbing, but he looked at her quizzically.

"Taylor?"

"If Taylor hadn't said that stupid stuff to me, none of this would have happened."

"I think it might have happened anyway," he replied confidently. She smiled and kissed him on the lips.

"Go to sleep," she cooed. "I'll be here in the morning, you know." He smiled, although she could still sense a tinge of tension. "I'm fine, Jackson. You're a good person; we both know it. You won't hurt me. Now go to sleep." She took her hand back and got comfortable so that she could sleep, but let Jackson's hand stay where it was. His eyes closed and he was asleep within minutes. Melissa brought her fingertips to her lips, and then laid them gently on Jackson's chest. He sighed deeply, still asleep, and his fingers continued to find comfort on her abdomen. Without moving from him, she closed her eyes, ready to sleep.

"I won't let you get hurt," she whispered, not knowing that he could still hear her. "I love you."

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**A/N**: There's Chapter 4 for you all. Thanks for the reviews and compliments I've received. Anyway, I was thinking that there might be a sequel, but the idea I have in mind would be a bit risqué. Tell me your thoughts, and thanks for reading.


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